


we are all walking each other home

by suzukiblu



Series: Jetko Renaissance Week [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Everybody Lives, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - The Legend of Korra, Not Compliant with Avatar Comics, Pre-Relationship, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27167678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzukiblu/pseuds/suzukiblu
Summary: Jet hates Zuko, and has since before he showed up asking for permission to train Aang.
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Jetko Renaissance Week [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977535
Comments: 20
Kudos: 372
Collections: Jetko Renaissance Week





	we are all walking each other home

**Author's Note:**

> Day six of Jetko Renaissance Week. The prompt was “Family”, and I threw in Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies, which, lbr, in this case is pretty much just “Jet Lives”.
> 
> Accompanying art can be found [here](https://suzukiblu.tumblr.com/post/632804174887829504/illustration-for-my-day-six).

Jet hates Zuko, and has since before he showed up asking for permission to train Aang; since before he even knew his real name. He hates his presence, he hates his voice, he hates his fucking _face_. As far as he’s concerned, they should’ve thrown him off the temple the moment he showed up. Unfortunately, he and Katara got outvoted, and now he’s gone and won Aang and Sokka over, and Zuko’s just walking around like he belongs here and Jet’s just spiritsdamn _seething_. 

It wouldn’t be such a problem except Zuko is _Zuko_. He’s been a liar since the day Jet met him and he helped burn down Ba Sing Se and there’s absolutely nothing trustworthy about him. Just about any other firebender would be a better option, and that’s fucking _saying_ something. 

Jet’s not the only one who hates him, at least, but that’s a small comfort when the _Avatar_ is willingly learning from him. 

How are they supposed to trust someone like Zuko? How are they supposed to believe he’s actually teaching Aang the right way to firebend and won’t be reporting back to the Fire Lord with all his vulnerabilities and weaknesses; that he won’t turn his back on them the moment the Comet comes? 

And why would any of them _want_ to, either? 

Jet’s trying not to obsess over any of this, but it’s real fucking hard not to obsess over the fact there’s a catfox in the henhouse and all the other hens are all busy building a nice cozy nest for it. 

He doesn’t obsess about it. He goes about his day like normal. He eats breakfast, he and Katara glower at Zuko for a while, he trains for a bit and then spars with Sokka, and then he goes and takes a bath. Elsewhere, everyone else is presumably doing their own training, or maybe cleaning up the temple or getting lunch started or something. Jet doesn’t worry about it, and he definitely doesn’t obsess about Zuko, even though obsessing about Zuko is basically his default setting these days. He doesn’t know how to stop, is the thing. 

He holds his head under the water for a long time, trying to calm down. It doesn’t really work. 

It doesn’t work at all, in fact. 

He exhales bubbles, then straightens up, slicking his hair back off his face. 

“Oh!” a startled voice says, and Jet finds Zuko standing there on the other side of the baths. 

Spirits, he hates him. 

“What do you want?” he snaps. 

“Uh,” Zuko says, taking a step back warily. “I was just going to . . . never mind.” 

He’s probably here for a bath, Jet assumes. Obviously, since it’s not like he came looking for him, and he looks dishevelled and kind of sweaty anyway. He was probably training too. 

“Whatever,” he says, getting to his feet and shaking the water out of his hair. He grabs his pants and belt and pulls them on without bothering to dry off, and Zuko hovers. Jet ignores him and starts wrapping up his forearms. 

“Are you . . . alright?” Zuko says awkwardly, and Jet gives him a disbelieving look. “Sorry. Just the bruises . . .” 

“They’re from training,” Jet says. 

“They look bad,” Zuko says. 

“And you care why, Fire Nation?” Jet snorts, tying off his wraps. 

“I’m just asking,” Zuko says. “You look awful.” 

“So?” Jet says in exasperation. “I’m a freedom fighter. We get bruised. And scarred.” 

“You haven’t even been fighting lately,” Zuko says, his eyes flicking down towards Jet’s chest, which _is_ bruised, but mostly scarred. 

Mostly burn scars, obviously. 

“Funny story, that doesn’t deal with scars,” Jet says dryly, making a point of pointing to one of the burns on his stomach. “I’ve been fighting you people since I was a kid. What do you think I’m gonna look like?” 

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Zuko says. 

“Yeah, well, we don’t all grow up in palaces,” Jet says. Zuko grimaces. Jet rolls his eyes and sticks a twig in his mouth to chew on, rolling it from one side to the other. 

“That didn’t keep me from getting scars,” Zuko says. He doesn’t touch his face, but obviously he’s talking about his face. 

“Yeah, and what was that from, a training accident when you were learning how to kill innocent people?” Jet sneers. “Or did you just do it to yourself because you thought it’d make you look intimidating? News flash: it doesn’t.” 

“I didn’t do it to myself,” Zuko says, his expression strange. 

“So training accident?” Jet says. “What do they do to people who accidentally scar the prince, anyway?” 

“It wasn’t an accident,” Zuko says. His voice is . . . strange, again. Jet frowns. 

“Huh?” he says. 

“It wasn’t an accident,” Zuko repeats, visibly steeling himself. “I was in an Agni Kai. An honor duel. I disgraced myself, so my opponent scarred me.” 

“That’s a thing?” Jet says, blinking in bemusement. Disgrace or not, who the hell would do that to the fucking _prince_? 

“. . . not really,” Zuko mutters. “It’s . . . old-fashioned” 

“So you disgraced yourself in front of an old-fashioned firebender,” Jet says skeptically. “And the Fire Lord was just fine with that?” 

“Yes.” 

“What a fucking bastard,” Jet says with a laugh, shaking his head. That scar’s at least a couple years old, too. How early do they do duels in the Fire Nation, damn? 

“. . . yes,” Zuko says, shifting uncomfortably. Jet doesn’t believe he really thinks that, unless maybe he’s just offended his dad let somebody scar up his face. Who knows how much those people care about burn scars, though, assuming they do at all. Admittedly Jet has not seen many burned firebenders in his life. 

“Didn’t you try to stop them?” he asks. “Like, how shit at firebending are you, you got burned that bad?” 

“They were stronger than me,” Zuko says. 

“Sucks to be you, I guess,” Jet says. Zuko smiles bitterly and sits down on the floor. 

“Yeah,” he says. “Pretty much.” 

“Was it your sister?” Jet says, because as much as he hates Zuko, he’s learned to _despise_ Azula. 

“No,” Zuko says. “I mean, she was there. But so were a lot of people. We were in an arena.” 

“The fuck for?” Jet asks. Zuko shrugs. 

“I don’t know,” he says. “Royalty gets involved in an Agni Kai, it’s a big deal. Even Uncle was there.” 

“I thought you said your uncle took care of you,” Jet says. “He just let somebody scar you like that?” 

“He didn’t have a choice,” Zuko said. 

“He was almost the Fire Lord!” Jet says. “Who the hell was gonna stop him?!” 

Zuko shifts uncomfortably. Jet’s brain catches up. 

“Wait,” he says. “Your father _wanted_ them to scar you?” 

“I mean . . .” Zuko shrugs helplessly. “He did it.” 

“What?” Jet grins at him in horror. “You fought a duel with the _Fire Lord_?” 

“No.” Zuko grimaces again. “I wouldn’t fight him. So he . . . scarred me.” 

“Are you fucking _kidding_ me?!” Jet demands. “What were you, fourteen?!” 

“Thirteen,” Zuko says. 

“Thirteen! And you got in a duel with the damn Fire Lord!” Jet says. “How did you _possibly_ fuck up that bad?!” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Zuko says. “I just spoke out of turn in a meeting.” 

“Spirits,” Jet says. He knew the Fire Nation was awful, but that’s _disgusting_. “Your dad is a piece of shit, you know that?” 

Zuko smiles wanly. 

“I’ve heard some things,” he says, touching his face. Not the scar, but close to it. 

Jet walks over to him and drops into a crouch to get a closer look at the scar, really _thinking_ about it in a way he hasn’t since he first met “Lee” on the ferry. It’s a deep scar, especially for being on the face. It’s a miracle there’s still an eye under it, considering. He waves a hand in front of Zuko’s eyes, wondering how well the other can actually see. Zuko’s eyes follow his hand, at least. 

They’re beautiful eyes, but Jet doesn’t think things like that about Zuko anymore. 

“You know, as awful as that bastard is, I’m actually surprised,” Jet says with a self-deprecating laugh. “Stupid me, huh? He was cool with walking around seeing that every day?” 

“He banished me after that,” Zuko says. “He didn’t see the scar until after Ba Sing Se. But he didn’t . . . I don’t think he cared, no.” 

“Spirits,” Jet says again. “Your family is so fucked up.” 

“I guess,” Zuko says, looking pained. “Yes. That’s just . . . how they are.” 

“So you’re okay with us killing them,” Jet says, and the pained look on Zuko’s face deepens. 

“No,” he says. “But we have to stop them.” 

“Damn right,” Jet says. He reaches out and grabs Zuko’s face, and Zuko lets him. He turns it for a better look at the scar, and yeah, it really is deep. It’s a bad look. 

He doesn’t know how he feels about the idea that the Fire Lord put it there. That Zuko’s _father_ put it there. That’s so much worse than any of the other assumptions he’d made. 

It’s fucked up. 

“You’re a wreck, aren’t you,” Jet says, letting go of Zuko’s face but not lowering his hand. He’s maybe cradling the scar a little. Not on purpose, exactly, just . . . yeah. 

“Mm,” Zuko says. 

“Maybe Aang’ll leave him alive long enough for you to get a couple kicks in,” Jet says, and Zuko smiles humorlessly. 

“We just need to stop him,” he says. “Whatever it takes.” 

“Yeah.” Jet tilts his head, still looking at the other’s scar. He feels . . . weird, now. Kind of hard to define. “Do the others know how you got the scar?” 

“No.” Zuko shakes his head. “It’s never really come up.” 

“So why’d you tell me?” Jet asks. 

“It’s not a secret,” Zuko says with a loose shrug. “Everyone in the Fire Nation knows.” 

“Well, that’s fucking horrible,” Jet says conversationally. 

“What about you?” Zuko asks. “How’d you get yours?” 

“You wanna be here all afternoon?” Jet snorts, finally dropping his hand away and settling back on his haunches. He’s got more stories about scars than anything else. 

“I don’t mind,” Zuko says. 

“Hm.” Jet looks at him for a long moment, still not sure how he feels, but . . . 

It’s different, whatever it is. 

“Yeah,” he says finally. “Okay, sure. I’ll tell you all about them.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr!](http://suzukiblu.tumblr.com/)


End file.
